In the camp, a massive bonfire had long since been lit. It roared with life, radiating heat and light that provided ample illumination for the campsite.
The Underworld had no sun or moon, so the sky was currently devoid of any light source; the bonfire was their only means of seeing. Of course, a lack of light didn't actually hinder them much, as most Underworld creatures—demons included—possessed night vision. However, temperatures in the Underworld plummeted once night fell, often dropping by over twenty degrees to near-freezing levels. Even demons felt the chill, making the bonfire a necessity for warmth.
It was under these conditions that Yukino Yukinoshita and her group returned, utterly exhausted.
However, Leon was nowhere to be found.
This realization made the girls' teeth itch with frustration.
"He actually ran away. How despicable," Yukino Yukinoshita muttered, her teeth clenched.
"Where could he have gone at a time like this? He wouldn't be hiding in a tent, would he?" Asuna Yuuki analyzed seriously, clearly not having given up on the idea of revenge.
"If he were in a tent, we'd find him instantly. That guy isn't that stupid," Utaha Kasumigaoka snorted, her voice dripping with lingering irritation.
"With Senior's strength, he'd be fine no matter where he went. He probably hid back inside the ancient battlefield..." Mahiru Shiina offered helplessly.
The girls felt that, given Leon's style, such a move was highly likely. After all, he wasn't afraid of ghosts, but they had all just been traumatized. Even if they knew he was hiding in the battlefield, they wouldn't dare go back in.
At the thought of this, their anger flared even brighter.
Just then, a bat flew in from the distance and transformed into a human form before them. The girls recognized it immediately as one of the familiars Leon had brought along. The familiar pointed toward a nearby tent, causing the girls to pause in surprise.
"Is he telling us to go there?" Asuna Yuuki looked toward the tent.
"That's an unused tent, isn't it?" Utaha Kasumigaoka remarked after observing it for a moment.
"What's inside?" Mahiru Shiina asked curiously.
"Could that guy be hiding in there? Did he send a familiar to call us over?" As Yukino spoke, she was already marching forward, heading toward the tent with an aggressive momentum.
The others followed suit, looking ready to join Yukino in settling the score with Leon.
However, when they lifted the tent flap and stepped inside, the sight that met them left them all stunned.
The interior of the tent was empty of furniture or equipment. Instead, a pool had been constructed in the center of the ground. Surrounding the pool were several statues continuously spouting water, and steam rose steadily from the surface, telling the girls exactly what this was.
"A hot spring!" Asuna Yuuki was the first to speak, her voice filled with surprise and excitement.
The eyes of the other girls lit up as well, their anger instantly replaced by joy.
"How is there a hot spring here?"
"It doesn't look like something that was here originally."
"It must be newly built. The masonry is brand new!"
Yukino, Utaha, and Mahiru spoke one after another.
"This must be the 'surprise' that guy mentioned," Yukino quickly deduced.
Indeed, this was the surprise Leon had prepared. He knew the intensity of this special training was high. For the sake of their future, he had no intention of showing mercy and had decided to train his peers ruthlessly. Consequently, the coming month was going to be very difficult for the girls.
They were still young women. Even if they had been reincarnated as demons and their physical constitutions had vastly improved, training in a place like this ancient battlefield was taxing. Even if their bodies could endure it, their mental state might not.
Thus, to reward his peers for a hard day's work, Leon had instructed his familiars to build a hot spring here for them to relax their bodies and minds.
Realizing this, the girls' resentment toward Leon gradually dissipated.
"At least he's clever enough to prepare something like this for us," Utaha's cold snort turned into a soft huff, her anger clearly half-gone.
"I didn't expect to be able to soak in a hot spring here."
"There are even bath supplies over here."
Asuna had already begun testing the water temperature, while Mahiru discovered stools, soap, wooden buckets, and other items in the corner. All the preparations for a bath were complete; all that was missing were the people.
The girls were suddenly eager. After a full day of training, their clothes were tattered, and their fair bodies were stained grey with dirt and sweat. Girls were naturally fond of cleanliness; previously, they had been too focused on the training to notice, but now that a hot spring was right in front of them, how could they hold back? They felt filthy and sticky, which was becoming increasingly unbearable.
"So... shall we go in?" Mahiru Shiina asked cautiously.
Why the hesitation? Because a man could pop out at any moment.
"He wouldn't be hiding somewhere peeking, would he?" Utaha Kasumigaoka made no effort to hide her distrust of Leon.
"As for the President, he wouldn't do something like that, would he?" Asuna said, though her tone was filled with uncertainty.
"He probably won't peek," Yukino Yukinoshita mused for a moment before shaking her head.
"Why do you think that?" Utaha asked skeptically. "I don't take him for a gentleman."
"Of course he isn't a gentleman," Yukino said calmly. "I just feel that, given his personality, if he wanted to watch, he would just walk in openly. He wouldn't feel the need to be sneaky about it."
"After all, the thing he says most often is that we are his people, and it's only natural for him to do whatever he wants with us."
"Rather than peeking, I'm more inclined to believe he'd just lift the curtain and come in to bathe with us."
As soon as she said this, the girls fell silent. It had to be said that Yukino was right; her understanding of Leon was thorough. Based on what they knew of him, such an act was entirely possible.
Except...
"Doesn't that make it even more worrying?" Mahiru Shiina muttered, causing the girls to look at each other.
"He won't really just walk in later, will he?"
"Should we seal the entrance?"
"What's the use? With his strength, if he really wants to come in, forget sealing the entrance—he'd find a way in even if we sealed the whole tent with a barrier."
Utaha, Asuna, and Yukino entered "discussion mode," trying to think of a way to prevent such an occurrence. But after debating back and forth, they couldn't come up with a reliable solution. They stood there hesitating, not daring to enter the water.
Finally, Mahiru Shiina bit her lip and decided to take the plunge.
"If Senior really wants to do something to us, we can't stop him anyway. We might as well just follow our hearts."
She thought back to the conversation she had with Leon on the day she became a demon.
"You won't do anything strange to me, will you?"
"Who knows? Maybe one day I'll feel like it."
"How blunt. Aren't you afraid of scaring me away?"
"Isn't it natural for a demon to scare people away? Now that I'm a demon, why care so much? To follow one's desires and live as one pleases—that is what it means to be a demon."
Mahiru remembered clearly that after hearing those words, she had still chosen to accept the Evil Piece Leon offered and reincarnate as a demon. In other words, from that day on, she had accepted the fact that she was Leon's servant and peer, and the possibility that he might have his way with her in the future.
Of course, what had moved her most was his other statement:
"The ones who will accompany you through the long years of the future won't be your parents, but me, and the fellow peers under my command who are just like you."
It was because of those words that she had made her decision. Since he was the person who would accompany her through the long years and give her the recognition she needed, she decided not to worry about it. At worst, she would just consider it "fan service" from a servant to her master.
Mahiru's face flushed slightly. After a moment of hesitation, she began to undress. She simply couldn't stand it anymore; she was far too dirty.
Seeing their junior undressing, the remaining girls looked at each other and finally sighed.
"There's no helping it. Who told us to be his peers?"
"Now that things are like this, we can't exactly pretend this hot spring doesn't exist."
"If that guy dares to suddenly come in, we'll definitely settle the score with him afterward."
Yukino, Asuna, and Utaha each used their own logic to convince themselves. They then began to shed their "armor," revealing fair bodies covered in dust and grime. Being so dirty, they naturally didn't jump straight into the pool. Instead, they used the wooden buckets to scoop up water, rinsing away the filth before finally stepping into the spring.
"Haaa..."
A second later, the girls sighed in unison, their expressions relaxing completely.
"This feels so good." Asuna was the biggest fan of bathing among them; her face was full of ease and joy as she smiled. "It feels like the fatigue of the whole day is vanishing."
"Look, the wounds are healing." Utaha raised her hand, and the scratches on it disappeared at a visible rate. She remarked in wonder, "This spring water probably isn't piped in from outside."
"It even has healing properties?" Mahiru blinked. "Could there be Underworld medicinal herbs added to it?"
"Highly likely. Otherwise, even if a hot spring is medicinal, the effect wouldn't be this strong."
"The water is all coming out of those four statues. Could it be an effect of the statues themselves?"
"Since it's a demon's creation, it's normal for it to be unusual."
The girls began to chatter away, their words full of praise and love for the hot spring.
Only Yukino Yukinoshita had been oddly reluctant to speak from the start, remaining silent.
"What's wrong, Yukino?" Asuna Yuuki soon noticed and asked in confusion. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"...It's nothing." Yukino acted particularly cold, not showing the same joy as the others. She muttered gloomily, "I just don't feel like talking."
This overly cold and depressed attitude left Asuna and Mahiru puzzled. Only Utaha Kasumigaoka suddenly raised an eyebrow. She looked down, glanced at Yukino's chest, and then smiled—a smile like a fox that had successfully swiped a treat.
"It's okay, Yukino," Utaha said in an especially gentle tone. "You're still in your growth phase. It's not impossible for you to grow in the future."
With that one sentence, Asuna and Mahiru suddenly understood.
"Who—who cares about such things?!" Yukino reacted violently, as if someone had stepped on her tail or poked an old wound.
"You don't care?" Utaha narrowed her eyes, smiling mischievously. "Then why have you been stealing glances at us since a moment ago? Especially at me."
As she spoke, Utaha intentionally puffed out her chest, sending a dramatic ripple through the water. That scene was a direct provocation to Yukino.
"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?" Yukino's small fists clenched.
"I'm just giving you a role model to motivate your growth," Utaha teased. "When it comes to feminine charm, you have to take it seriously. I won't say you should surpass Asuna, but at least don't let yourself be beaten by Mahiru, who's your junior."
Asuna and Mahiru's cheeks flushed pink, and they both instinctively lowered their bodies deeper into the water. But Yukino still caught a glimpse of their fair, ample figures, and she nearly fell into a state of total despondency.
Among the peers, Utaha Kasumigaoka was undoubtedly the most well-developed, followed closely by Asuna Yuuki. Although Mahiru Shiina was a first-year junior, her development was not at all inferior to her upperclassmen. If Asuna weren't also the type who clearly wouldn't let a future child go hungry, even she might not have been able to compete with the "Angel."
Only Yukino Yukinoshita was truly "flat." Usually, she didn't pay much attention to such things, but now that everyone was bathing naked together, she couldn't help but notice. The cruel reality made her head spin; she felt that the heavens were truly unfair.
"Mom and Sister are both so large, so why did it turn out like this for me..." Yukino muttered with extreme resentment.
Seeing that Yukino was about to retreat into her own world of gloom, Asuna and Mahiru quickly began to comfort her.
"Hum~ hum~"
Utaha, as if having won a great victory, began to hum a tune.
Inside the tent in the dark of night, the sound of girls talking and the occasional bursts of laughter filled the air. This caused Leon, who was sitting on the roof of the tent, to crack a smile. He unfurled his eight wings and took to the sky, soaring back toward the ancient battlefield.
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